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How the crowd draws

403 drawings of its land border and 845 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 19 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Nigeria

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area911,000 km²352,000 sq mi885,000 km²342,000 sq mi2.8% smaller
Outline5,685 km3,533 mi5,033 km3,127 mi11.5% shorter
Centre8.08° E, 9.59° N8.1° E, 9.6° N8.06° E, 9.55° N8.1° E, 9.6° N5 km south-west3 mi south-west
Westernmost2.67° E, 7.90° N2.7° E, 7.9° N2.68° E, 6.34° N2.7° E, 6.3° N1 km short1 mi short
Easternmost14.67° E, 12.17° N14.7° E, 12.2° N14.39° E, 12.12° N14.4° E, 12.1° N30 km short19 mi short
Southernmost6.10° E, 4.28° N6.1° E, 4.3° N9.00° E, 4.56° N9.0° E, 4.6° N32 km short20 mi short
Northernmost5.53° E, 13.88° N5.5° E, 13.9° N5.45° E, 13.70° N5.5° E, 13.7° N20 km short12 mi short

Near the land border, 51% of the crowd’s lines run inside Nigeria. Near the coast, 65% run inland.

Borders and coast

Why two lengths?

A line’s length depends on how closely it is drawn. The game’s lines are simplified: they keep a point every few kilometres and cut across small bends. The official lengths, from the CIA World Factbook, are measured on other lines. A border measured on a finer line, following every bend of its rivers and ridges, comes out longer.

Coasts differ most, and either way. Some official coastlines follow every inlet and island (Canada’s 202,080 km); others are smoothed on purpose, crossing bays and sounds (the United States’ 19,924 km), and can come out shorter than the game’s.

Players draw against the game’s line and are scored against it, so the crowd’s length is compared with the game’s, both measured the same way. Set against an official length measured another way, the comparison would say more about the two methods than about the crowd.

Nigeria and Cameroon: 1,429 km in the game, 1,975 km officially.

Nigeria’s coast: 2,070 km in the game, 853 km officially.

4 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Cameroon1,429 km in the game1,975 km officially1,510 km the crowd’s5.7% longer
Niger1,361 km in the game1,608 km officially1,339 km the crowd’s1.6% shorter
Benin689 km in the game809 km officially673 km the crowd’s2.3% shorter
Chad91 km in the game72 km the crowd’s20.9% shorter
The coast2,070 km in the game853 km officially1,250 km the crowd’s39.6% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Nigeria: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Nigeria or outside it; the median over a short stretch is where the crowd puts the line there, and the real outline moved by it is the crowd’s. Where the move folds a narrow inlet over itself, the loop is cut.

The 1,248 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s World map, scribbles left out, the real line the game’s own. Area true to scale; the outline copies the real line’s detail, so its length changes only where the shape moves or a loop is cut. The map lays the 1,000 most recent; the heat map, the crowd’s shape and every figure use all 1,248.

2 small pieces of Nigeria, 295 km² in all, keep their real shape, shown flat: islands no round asks players to draw, or too small to measure. They count in no figure.

Draw Nigeria yourself and add your line to the next update.